Wednesday, April 8, 2009

a. Formalism is a type of art that relies solely on compositional or abstract qualities. Elements like line, shape, and color are of great importance, rather than concept and subject matter, because things like that cause distraction to the work. To formalists, the true purpose of art, is to make art for the sake of art.

b. I think that Kandinsky's artwork best fits into formalism out of the three artists. He explores all elements of art like color, line, shape, form, texture, and doesn't rely on subject matter. He coined the term "non-objective painting, which means that he didn't use objects as a part of his art. His works are purely 'abstract' in the fact that you don't know exactly what you are looking at. You can have a feeling from his art and decide for yourself what he is trying to portray.

c. Mondrian's paintings fit into formalism because he focuses on non-representational aspects, like his forms of color and his use of line. He explores the idea of a line, and how it can be used to make a form, and bring color into it to give a sense of feeling. He saw art as a means of confronting a higher reality, and has been a great influence to the abstract art world.

d. I really couldn't find anyone that exactly fit what I'm working on for this project, I chose Benjamin La Rocco because of his artist statement. All it says is that art is very quiet, even when it makes noise. I had started focusing on music I was listening to and a place where I would hear it and drew from that. I tried thinking of these places and how they look as a feeling..